Talk by Mr Jeremy Liew

For those who missed out on the Prefect's camp, this post is for you. For those who did attend it, just read through it to refresh your memory (:

This is just going to be a summary of what MrLiew talked about. I wish for you to read it.

1. Mr Liew focused on us Prefects being an opportunity for us to learn. To be able to develop leadership skills, management skills, developing others as well as ourselves in accordance to the school values - faith service community.

For such learning to take place, we must always seek to understand the purpose and meaning of our actions. What we are called to do (duties, being a role model, being proactive etc) always has a learning point for all of us. Mr liew even quoted - "then you will be able to take any kind of hardship."

2. Going further, he talks about being able to look at the bigger picture. To understand the existance of an organization such as the Prefectorial Board. Are we a disciplinary body? Or are we a group of people hoping to help build a school culture where faith, service and community can truly be found? That is something he asked you guys to think about, and i feel that it's very important that you establish an understanding of the bigger picture we are to look at.

This is important, as our actions as an organization must be in line with our purpose. He used the example of the school organizing the LAMDA examinations - to give us the opportunity to be effective communicators - which is in the profile of the ideal SJI boy. Same for us, we have to always look at the possible result of things. If it isn't what we want to achieve, don't do it. We must always remained focused on our purpose.

3. He then went on to talk about leadership, and cited the example of a leadership seminar by Kouzes and Posner when they asked the participants to write down the qualities they find most important in leadership. It turned out that honesty, and integrity were the most popular ones. Why? Because people must be able to place their trust in their leaders. Most of the time we don't have the experience or the time to analyse everything about a person before you follow him, so honesty is what makes you trustworthy. Of course, it doesn't stop there, whether people respect your leadership later on is a whole different thing.

4. Ask yourself what you want to see most in your leader, and try to develop that yourself. Certainly, we have to be able to discern what's truely desirable of a leader, not just from our point of view, but from others as well.

5. Last but not least, Humility. Live by the reality of things, your weaknesses and strengths, accept them. Only then will you be able to identify and improve yourself. Learn from mistakes, always have a balance of work and play, humour and seriousness.



I will be posting about Kenny Wong's talk in a couple of days, check the blog regularly please (: